ARABIAN MARES 263 



ancestresses a hundred generations back his ancestors 

 have loved and trusted. This mare would that we hu- 

 man beings had not been civilized out of so many of 

 our animal qualities ! will follow him day and night. She 

 would fret her soul out at being hitched to a post, and her 

 master would scorn to tie her. She w r ill stand immov- 

 able in the midst of danger and fright which would make 

 any of our horses frantic. She will carry her master 

 through fire and water. She will unflinchingly face 

 wounds and death so long as the hand which has fed her 

 is laid upon her neck. She will stand over her disabled 

 lord till help arrives, or she will go alone to seek it and 

 return with it to find him. She will kneel for him to 

 mount, and she will bear him bravely home, if she falls a 

 sacrifice to her devotion at the door of her master's tent. 

 These are not always fables. The horse, treated as he 

 should be, generation after generation, develops a rare in- 

 telligence, and shows as noble an affection as the dog. 

 But, as above said, even in Arabia, this horse is the pearl 

 of great price. Thrice happy the sheik or caliph who 

 truly claims to own one ! 



In the desert proper the horse is not always shod ; in 

 the stony localities he must be. The Frank shoe in Al- 

 gerian cities, owing to the European influence, is driving 

 out the old Arabian plate. The foot of the unshod horse 

 is everywhere and always strong and healthy. The Ara- 

 bian foot is, in fact, uniformly good. I have scarcely 

 seen a horse point, even on the pavement. There are few 

 interferers ; some overreach in harness, but not of course 

 in the saddle, as no unspoiled Arab can be persuaded to 

 ride a trot, and this is the only gait in which the habit 

 can prevail. 



